Why Hair Goes Gray

Scientists may have figured out why hair turns gray, andtheir finding may open the door to new anti-graying strategies.

New research shows that hair turns gray as a result of a chemical chainreaction that causes hair to bleach itself from the inside out.

The process starts when there is a dip in levels of an enzyme calledcatalase. That catalase shortfall means that the hydrogen peroxide thatnaturally occurs in hair can't be broken down. So hydrogen peroxide builds upin the hair, and because other enzymes that would repair hydrogen peroxide'sdamage are also in short supply, the hair goes gray.

Putting the brakes on that chemical chain reaction "could have greatimplications in the hair graying scenario in humans," write theresearchers, who included Karin Schallreuter, a professor clinical andexperimental dermatology at England's University of Bradford.

The study appears online in The FASEB Journal; the FASEB is theFederation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.